Why 2 Chase Sapphire Reserves are Better than 1
It may seem ridiculous to argue that two Chase Sapphire Reserves (CSR) with an Annual Fee of $795 are better than one, but please read on!
I have a spreadsheet that I use to evaluate the benefits of my current and future cards vs. their AF (Annual Fee). Frequent Miler has a great one that you can customize to fit your lifestyle.
First, the $300 CSR Travel Credit is very easy to use- you just charge something travel-related to your card, and the credit magically appears.
We don’t typically go to live events, so I was skeptical of the value of the StubHub credit, which is $150 every half year. But I realized that I could buy tickets on Card1 and sell them to Card2. I could then have Card2 sell the tickets to someone else and get some money. This has worked well for H2’2025 and H1’2026.
But I have now come up with a slight improvement. In H2’2026, Card1 is going to buy tickets for something in April 2027. Card2 will buy those tickets from Card1 the next day. Then, I’m going to wait for H1’2027, and do the same thing again. I’ll ultimately sell the tickets to someone.
On average, I’ve been getting about $116 when the other Card buys tickets from the other card and pays $150. That $34 difference is the StubHub fees. I just did this and netted $126- a little above average.
Ultimately, I’m averaging about $232 per year for the StubHub credit. And it’s pretty easy.
The Dining Credit is $150 every half year. There’s a very expensive restaurant near us called Selby’s in Menlo Park, California. $150 is good for one person- but not two. So having two cards lets us have a nice meal in their bar area. (My P2 doesn’t do well with tasting menus, so we prefer a la carte.)
I wouldn’t give the Dining Credit full value, but $100 (not $150) seems reasonable for that high-end meal. $200 for both half years.
$300 Travel Credit + $232 StubHub + $200 Dining Credit = $732 vs. an Annual Fee of $795.
I haven’t included the Apple Streaming credit (which we use), the Edit Hotel Credits, the Lyft Credit ($10/month per card) or the superior travel insurance (when you pay with the card).
We don’t need two Apple Streaming credits, and we already pay for Amazon Music. So we really only use AppleTV at $12.99/month. Half of AppleTV is $78/year.
Two Lyft credits per month is way more than we need, so I’m ignoring that even though we will probably use a few of them.
I didn’t use the Edit Credits on either card in H2’2025, but I did use them this half year. Chase added an additional $250 “Hotel Credit”, which can be used at IHG Hotels and a few other chains. Here’s the complete list of CSR Benefits- scroll down to see the “$250 credit for select Chase Travel hotels”. We used that credit at the Intercontinental Wharf in Washington DC for our trip in September. We’re staying 6 nights, so we used two Hotel Credits and two Edit Credits for 4 of the 6 nights. And an Edit Credit for the last 2 nights.
Note that by having two cards we were able to save $1250 on 6 nights at a very nice hotel: 3x $250 Edit Credits for each of the 2 nights, and 2x $250 “Hotel Credits”. Here’s hoping they repeat the Hotel Credit in 2027!
I haven’t included the value of Chase Sapphire Lounge access. I’ve been to the one in Philadelphia, and I will be going to the LaGuardia and San Diego ones later this year. I think they are better than the Centurion lounges. I don’t go often enough to ascribe a dollar value to this benefit.
Now, we’re definitely over the $795 Annual Fee.
Two CSRs are better than one because:
The Dining Credit is better when you have two
The StubHub Credit is easier to get cash from when you have two
The Edit+Hotel Credits make it cheaper to book a vacation
I’m convinced- are you?
